Seduction in the Salon programme

Coming Tait Events Tait Friends at Stoke Lodge

A musical surprise Stoke Lodge, 45 Hyde Park Gate London, SW7 5DU Wednesday 18th May 2016 at 6.30pm In the presence of the Australian High Commissioner HE The Hon Alexander Downer AC and Mrs Nicola Downer AM

Australian Ballet rehearsal London Coliseum

Proudly supporting young Australian performing artists in the UK Principal Partner

Tait Memorial Trust 4/80 Elm Park Gardens London SW10 9PD @TaitTrust FB /taitmemorialtrust Phone +44 207 351 0561 info@taitmemorialtrust.org www.taitmemorialtrust.org Reg. Charity 1042797

Swan Lake

Presented by Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Tuesday 12th July at 1.30pm

The Tait Trust Seduction in the Salon Presented & Artistically Directed by Ross Alley

Lisa Bucknell, John Granger Fisher Som Howie, James Ioelu, Alexandra Isted, Ashlyn Skye Tymms, Matthew Reardon, Chad Vindin

Tait Winter Prom 2016

Memories of Summer St John’s Smith Square Wednesday 30th November 2016 at 7.30pm Tait Chamber Orchestra Conducted by Jessica Cottis Our annual showcase for our Award recipients Music by Mozart, Wagner, Copland, Styles, Barber, Williamson

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For more information about any Tait Event please go to our website: www.taitmemorialtrust.org/events The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in 1992 by Isla Baring OAM in memory of Sir Frank and Viola, Lady Tait and the Tait brothers who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. The Trust offers awards/grants for postgraduate study and regularly gives performance opportunities to young Australian musicians and performing artists and general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. To ensure its continuance the Trust arranges regular fund raising events & concerts, invariably featuring the talented young winners of the various awards, and relies a great deal on financial support from the business sector, private donors and other loyal supporters.

www.taitmemorialtrust.org

Tonight’s concert is generously sponsored by Chevalier Richard Gunter

Thursday 26 April 2016 7 for 7.30pm Leighton House Museum 12 Holland Park Rd, London W14 8LZ Principal Partner

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Programme

Biographies

Lisa Bucknell Bach: Prelude and Sarabande from the 4th Cello Suite Paganini: La Campanella Matthew Reardon Schubert: Ständchen Verdi: La seduzione Saint-Saëns: Guitares et mandolines Som Howie Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata (Movement 2—Romanza) Piazolla: Oblivion Ashlyn Skye Tymms Bizet: Habanera Carmen Saint-Saëns: Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix Samson et Dalila INTERVAL James Ioelu Mozart: Catalogue aria Don Giovanni Ashlyn & James Mozart: La ci darem la mano Don Giovanni Alex Isted Massenet: Meditation Thaïs Ravel: Pièce en forme de Habanera Matthew & James Bizet: Au fond du temple saint The Pearl Fishers James Ioelu Gounod: Vous qui faites l’endormie Faust John Granger Fisher Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1

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Matthew Reardon Matthew Reardon is a Tenor from Sydney. He was a Dame Nellie Melba Opera scholar and a graduate from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Matthew made his professional operatic debut as Young Man 1 in Pecan Summer, the first Indigenous opera composed by soprano Deborah Cheetham (AO). He has been a chorus member with West Australian Opera and Opera Australia. He recently completed an Australian tour performing the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Opera, Cosi fan tutte with Co- Opera. Matthew has also been awarded a number of prizes and scholarships.

Matthew was a semi finalist in the McDonalds Aria Competition, was awarded the audience prize at the Australian – German Wiesbaden Award, and was a finalist in the Richard Bonynge and Dame Joan Sutherland Bel Canto award.

Matthew was awarded the Australian International Opera Award Scholarship (AIOA) which he began in September 2015, to study with the internationally famous Welsh tenor, Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice, in Cardiff.

Chad Vindin Winner of the accompanist's prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Competition in 2013, the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Accompanist Prize at the Royal Academy of Music and 2014, and the Royal Overseas League/Tait Memorial Trust Award last year, Chad Vindin has a busy career performing throughout the UK as an accompanist and chamber musician. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Malcolm Martineau, Chad was awarded the Lord & Lady Lurgan Junior Fellowship in Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music, a role he is currently enjoying for a second year. Chad is generously supported by the Thornton Foundation, and is grateful to have received further support by the Leverhulme Trust, the Reizenstein scholarship, and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust. In his spare time he runs the popular classical music satire site Throwcase.com.

Tait Memorial Trust

Chairman Isla Baring OAM Founding Patrons Dame Joan Sutherland AC OM DBE, Viola, Lady Tait AM, John McCallum AO CBE, Googie Withers AO CBE Patrons Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, John Frost AM, Julian Gavin, Patricia Countess of Harewood, Barry Humphries AO CBE, Piers Lane AO, June Mendoza AO OBE, Ermes de Zan Trustees Justin Baring, Isla Baring OAM, Shirley Barr, Anne Longdon, Susie Thornton Committee Fay Curtin, Jan Gowrie-Smith, Caroline Hamilton, Ros Higgins, Wendy Kramer, Dr Margaret Mayston AM, Gayle McDermott, Sue McGregor, Patricia Nimmo, John Rendall, Margaret Rodgers, Ann Seddon, Jacqueline Thompson Treasurer Will Middleton Honorary Committee Member Nicola Downer AM Administrator James Hancock

10 Biographies from a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Music Performance. In the same year she was awarded the UWA Graduates Convocation Award for the highest marks in the music faculty. Previously Alexandra was a student of the Advanced Performance Program at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne where she studied with Bill Hennessy. Alexandra has been the winner of numerous competitions, including the UWA Vose Prize Concerto Competition, the Woodside Concerto Competition and the Fremantle Open Concerto Competition. She has also been a semi-finalist in the Kendall National Violin Competition, won third place in the Australian String Academy Concerto Competition and been a recitalist in the National Youth Concerto Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the UWA Orchestra, West Australian Youth Orchestra, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Allegri Chamber Orchestra and the Fremantle Symphony Orchestra.

Alexandra is one of the 5 violinists in London selected for this years String Experience Scheme with the London Symphony Orchestra. She also is part of the BBC Symphony Pathway Scheme. In 2014 she was on a year-long contract with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has also played in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and most recently the Australian Youth Orchestra combined with the Australian World Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Alexandra wishes to thank the Friends of UWA Music and the Tait Memorial Trust who support her in her studies at the Royal College of Music. Alexandra is the 2016 Tait Scholar at the Royal College of Music.

Ashlyn Skye Tymms Mezzo-soprano, Ashlyn Skye Tymms graduated with a Bachelor of Music from The University of Melbourne 2009. She was a choral scholar and featured soloist with The University of Melbourne Trinity College Choir, recording with ABC Classics, Southern Star & Mystical Songs 2006-2007. Ashlyn other successes include: Mietta Song Recital Award semi-finalist 2010, Gertrude Johnson Scholarship with The Opera Studio Melbourne 2011, Winner of The National Liederfest including, The Robert Salzer Foundation Scholarship, Henkell Brothers Award, Goethe-Institut Australien Award and the Alan McArthur Memorial 2012; The Sydney Eisteddfod Joan Sutherland Memorial Scholarship finalist 2013.

In 2014 Ashlyn was a Herald Sun semi-finalist, Sydney Eisteddfod finalist in both the Opera and Arts Vocal Scholarship and the McDonald’s Aria Award and was a finalist with Opera Foundation Australia, Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship. Performed roles include Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Busby Le Cornu in the 2010 Australian premier of The Cockatoos with Victorian Opera, Eurydice in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld and Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro. In addition, Ashlyn was the mezzo-soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Maroondah Symphony Orchestra 2013 and the Alto soloist in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with The Sydney University Graduate Choir. Ashlyn has been awarded a scholarship to undertake the Masters of Performance program at the Royal College of Music, London in 2015/16.

Biographies

3 Ross Alley, a New Zealander, is a music lecturer for Birkbeck College, University of London. He has been a frequent lecturer at the Royal Opera House giving over 70 talks on opera and ballet music.

Over the years he has given numerous preperformance talks and lectures at the E.N.O, Wigmore Hall, the Wagner Society, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Gustav Mahler Society & the London Jewish Cultural Centre .

Ross founded The Lure of Opera/Inside Opera 1991 – Present (25 years) in the function rooms of the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London “The Lure of Opera” is a privately-run lecture series on opera currently in its 55th series. The focus for each ten-week course is usually the operatic works of one composer and takes place on a Monday evening at the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair In addition, Ross has given numerous guest lectures for the Cecchetti Societies of Great Britain, USA, Canada & Italy; Royal Academy of Dancing, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, the Council for Dance Education and Training, Birmingham Royal Ballet Education, London Junior Ballet, Hammond School, Elmhurst School of Dance. Numerous lectures on music for English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, London Symphony Orchestra, the UK Wagner Society, the Gustav Mahler Society, Kenwood, NADFAS, Artstur and the Newbury Spring Festival.

Internationally, Ross has lectured several times at the “The Great Romantics” Festival in Hamilton, Ontario organized by the foremost Liszt scholar, Dr. Alan Walker and is co-hosted by McMaster University and the American Liszt Society.

Partner Organisations Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition Australian International Opera Awards, WIAV Cardiff Tait Performing Arts Association, Melbourne Southbank Sinfonia, Sir Charles Mackerras Chair Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation, Bel Canto Award Royal College of Music, Tait Scholar Royal Northern College of Music, Higgin’s Scholar The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, The Leanne Benjamin Awards

We are very grateful to Mirabeau Wines for providing the wine for tonight’s event.

4 Biographies Lisa Bucknell Violist, Lisa Bucknell has performed around the United Kingdom with the Scottish Ensemble, the Southbank Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Florilegium, and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and recently debuted at the Wigmore Hall. She has enjoyed a trial with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was selected for this years String Experience Scheme with the London Symphony Orchestra, and performed in the Alan Bennett play Untold Stories at the National Theatre and on the West End. Lisa began her studies on viola at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy after being awarded a scholarship, and has completed a Master of Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of Music under the tutelege of Simon Rowland-Jones. She has studied with Vicci Wardman, Annette Isserlis, and Caroline Henbest, and has had master classes with Thomas Riebl, Maxim Rysanov, Nobuko Imai, and Jennifer Stumm.

Lisa was a prize-winner at the North London Festival of Music, a finalist in the Kenneth Loveland and Brian Boak Outstanding Performer Awards, and a recitalist for the New London Orchestra Young Performers Concert Series sponsored by the Tait Trust. She performed as solo violist for the Sydney Conservatorium’s production of Albert Herring, and for Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Spring Awakening. Lisa has extensive orchestral experience, and has performed in the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Opera House, Cadogan Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney City Recital Hall. Lisa is very grateful for the support of the Richard Carne Trust, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, the Tait Memorial Trust, the Clemence Charitable Trust. Lisa is currently playing a 1930 Natale Carletti viola graciously on loan from the Royal College of Music.

John Granger Fisher Born in Brisbane, Australia, John Granger Fisher began piano studies with his mother at the age of four. At the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Brisbane, John studied with Natasha Vlassenko and Oleg Stepanov; and at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, USA, he worked with Oxana Yablonskaya and Boris Berman. In July 2014 John was awarded the Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied with Vanessa Latarche. John received first prize in the Yamaha Australian National Piano Competition.

He has won the John Allison City of Sydney Piano Scholarship, the Queensland Piano Competition and the Hephzibah Menuhin Award. He received the Griffith University Postgraduate Award, the Florence Davey Piano Scholarship (University of Queensland) and many other university awards. John’s other successes include the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and the Australian National Piano Award. John received second prize in the Louisiana International Piano competition. In February 2014, he won the Chappell Medal for piano at the Royal College of Music. John has appeared as soloist with a number of Australian orchestras and has given many performances with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at important venues, including Carnegie Hall, New York and Wigmore Hall, London. Recent recitals have taken place at St James’s Piccadilly, London; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; and the Leeds College of Music.

Biographies

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Som Howie Som Howie started the clarinet at the age of 11 studying under Mark Walton up until he began his studies at the Conservatorium of Music Sydney in 2008, attaining a Bachelor of Music Performance degree in 2012 completing his studies with Frank Celata. Som also studied with Lawrence Dobell after completing his degree at the Conservatorium. He received his AMus in clarinet at the age of 17, and in the same year was selected to perform at the Opera House in Encore, a concert for the most outstanding HSC music students.

In 2013, Som completed a 12-month fellowship with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and won the Musica Viva Chamber Music Competition as well as the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference Competition. Som participated in the Orchestral Academy program with the Southbank Sinfonia in London and will continue his studies with Andrew Marriner, Principle Clarinettist, London Symphony Orchestra and others James Ioelu New Zealand Bass-Baritone James completed an undergraduate degree in Music and Psychology at the University of Auckland before moving to New York in 2010 to complete a Master's in Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. During his studies he performed principal roles in a number of MSM productions; Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust, Trinity Moses in Kurt Weil’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Louis XVI in John Corigliano’s The Ghost of Versailles, and the Knave in Manly Romero’s Dreaming of Wonderland at the Brooklyn Arts Space.

Most recently, James has benefited from the generous support of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa foundation, including some coveted time with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa herself. Highlights include the role of Bruno in Michael Williams’ original work The Juniper Passion, which premiered in Rome, understudying the bass soloist in Haydn's The Creation with the NZSO, and most recently performing the role of Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor produced by Auckland Opera Studio and accompanied by the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. He will be performing the role of Don Pasquale this year with the Merola opera program in San Francisco as well as joining the National Opera Studio in London in September of this year.

James has received a steady stream of awards ranging from New Zealand Young Performer of the Year and Iosefa Enari Emerging Pacific Artist Award to more recently placing in three of the top Aria competitions in the Southern Hemisphere within the last year, winning the NZAria, as well as taking home the runner-up prize in both the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto competition and the Sydney Eisteddfod Operatic Aria.

Alexandra Isted Alexandra is currently a student of Itzhak Rashkovsky and Michal Cwizewizc at the Royal College of Music where she is completing a Masters of Music.

She previously studied with Tickets available online www.taitmemorialtrust.org/events Winthrop Professor Paul Wright at the University of Western Australia where she graduated

8 Tait Awards

Tait Supporters

The Tait Memorial Trust is pleased to be assisting these talented young Australian performing artists in 2015/16: Adopt a Performer Tait Scholar Alexandra Isted, violin Higgins Scholar Wayne Kwonn, cello Andrew Loewenthal Award Peter Wilson, piano/comp Whalley/Goldie-Morrison Award Lisa Bucknell, viola

RCM RNCM RCM RCM

The Leanne Benjamin Awards Peggy Haim Bequest Chloe Hollow, ballet John Frost Award Rebecca Blenkinsop, ballet

ENBS RBS

Partner Award funding Royal Over-Seas League Royal Over-Seas League Southbank Sinfonia McGregor/Kwok Award Aust. Int. Opera Awards Frost/Frank & Viola Tait Award Thornton Foundation Thornton Foundation Hunter family Award Hunter family Award Nicholas Heesom Award Walsh/Thompson Award

Som Howie, clarinet Chad Vindin, piano tba

RCM

Matthew Reardon, tenor WIAV Tabatha McFadyen, soprano Bel Canto Awards, JS & RB Found.ation Jade Moffatt, soprano GSMD Emily Edmonds, mez sop ROH James Guan, piano RAM John Granger Fisher, piano Luke Styles, composer Ashlyn Skye Tymms, mez sop RCM

The Trust has helped over 250 young Australian performers since 1992. We hope to help many more in the years to come.

Lauren Fagan • Grant Doyle • Siobhan Stagg • Julian Gavin • Brad Cooper Helena Dix • Sky Ingram • Kevin Penkin • Daniel de Borah • Hoang Phan Lachlan Monaghan • Thomas Rann • Tristan Dyer • Amy Dickson Valda Wilson • Liane Keegan • Alexandra Hutton • Stefan Cassemenos Derek Welton • Kelly Lovelady • Morgan Pearse • Duncan Rock Helen Sherman • Adrian Dwyer • Elena Xanthoudakis Jayson Gillham Lauren Easton • Coady Green • Greta Bradman • Gavin Zev • Yelian He Catherine Carby • Samuel Sakker • Nicholas Lester • Caitlin Hulcup Kate Howden • Adam Szabo • Lauren Zolezzi • Gerard Schneider • Liwei Qin Marshall McGuire • Claire Howard • John Heuzenroeder • Chelsea Andrejic

Tait Grainger Patron £10,000+ Julian Baring Family * Tait Sutherland Benefactor £5,000+ Sir David & Lady Higgins* Mr John Frost AM* Tait Bonynge Partner £3,000+ The Estate of Peggy Haim Tait Helpmann Circle £1,000+ Mrs Jan Gowrie-Smith Chevalier Richard Gunter Mr & Mrs David Hunter Mr Albert Kwok Mr Andrew Loewenthal* Mrs Stephanie McGregor The Thornton Foundation Mrs Margaret Rodgers Mrs Jacqueline Thompson & Mr Damian Walsh Mr Michael Whalley* Mrs Eugenie White* Miss Karen Goldie-Morrison* VEC Acorn Trust TMT Frank & Viola Friends £500+ Mr Julian Agnew Mr & Mrs Christopher Braithwaite Mr Hugh Bayne Tait Amis Supporter £250+ Mr John Coke The Hon Sarah Joiner Mrs Anne Longdon Mr Kerry Rubie The Hon. Sir Richard Storey Bt CBE TMT Friends £75+ Miss Marylyn Abbott Mr Eric Adler Mrs J Allison Ms Ariadne Jane Baring The Hon Mark Baring The Hon Susan Baring Mrs Nina Bialoguski Mr Lindsay Birrell Ms Sue Bradbury Mrs Diana Burley Mrs Lorraine Buckland Mrs Jane Butter Mr Marcus Clapham Mrs Sandra Clapham Mr John Crisp Ms Fay Curtin Mr Roger Davenport Mr Edward Field Miss Rosemary Frischer

5 Dr John Keet Mr Patrick Kennedy Mr Martin Kramer Mrs Wendy Kramer Lady Rosa Lipworth CBE Mr Henry Lumley Miss Joanna McCallum Ms Sue McGregor Ms Lisa Orlov Ms Mary Rayner Mr John Rendall Ms Jacqueline Rowlands Ms Katherine Scholfield Mr Ian Tegner Mrs Annette Thorp Rev John Wates OBE We are very grateful for the support that we receive from the following organisations: Principal Partner: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Tait Supporters: Australian Business The Britain-Australia Society Royal Over-Seas League The Thornton Foundation Mirabeau Wines With thanks: The Royal College of Music The Tait Committee Leighton House Museum Mr Sam Butler, Leighton House Mr & Mrs Steven Cronk Artistic Planning Committee: Miss Jessica Cottis Mr Jayson Gillham Miss Kate Sheppeard Mr Chad Vindin We very gratefully thank Chevalier Richard Gunter for personally supporting tonight‟s concert.

We would like to thank Ross Alley for Artistically Directing tonight‟s concert.

Principal Partner

6 Programme Notes

Programme Notes

Seduction in the Salon ““If music be the food of love, play on” is Duke Orsino‟s immortal opening line from Shakespeare‟s “Twelfth Night” but love, as we all know, comes in many forms. Here the melancholy Duke is asking for a surfeit of it to sate his appetite and cure his affliction – unrequited love for the Countess Olivia.

Perhaps he needed to hone his seduction techniques and Don Giovanni could well have given him a few tips – we shall see him in action tonight, first with the „Catalogue‟ aria in which his man-servant Leporello lists the extraordinary number of his conquests, and then in the wickedly charming duet with Zerlina: “La ci darem la mano”.

Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah (1609/10) Opera abounds with seducers and seductresses and would be the poorer, musically, without the sensuous music that aids and abets their immoral endeavours. French opera, in particular, gloried in the femme fatale, represented tonight by Bizet‟s amoral gypsy Carmen in her famous “Habanera” and SaintSaëns‟ Philistine temptress Delilah. Their sisters in seduction, Massenet‟s Manon and Thaïs, being soprano roles, remain offstage tonight although the ravishing instrumental interlude, the Méditation” from Thäis, will titillate your ears most deliciously.

The non-operatic song repertoire also brims over with caressing verses of sweet-nothings intended to induce intoxication in innocent ears represented this evening by offerings from Schubert, Verdi and Saint-Saëns.

7

Alluring and erotic dance has always been a formidable force in loosening inhibitions and our programme begins with a Sarabande, a dance originating in Central America in the 16th century which, although it may seem very tame by today‟s standards, came to be regarded as being rather scandalous, even being banned in Spain for its obscenity. Latin America has also given us the slow, sensuously-swaying Cuban Habanera and the often aggressively more erotic Tango, although appearing tonight in the dark-hued warmth of a clarinet calling to us and mesmerizing our senses from out of the Argentine night.

The second movement of Poulenc‟s Clarinet Sonata, the „Romanza‟, is exactly that, a romantic invocation to love, while the gypsy-like fire of Paganini‟s “La campanella” (little bell), the 3rd movement and rondo finale of his Violin Concerto No. 2 (played tonight on viola) assails and attacks our senses unashamedly.

Seduction, with its attack on innocence, is often thought to be diabolic in origin and Mephistopheles is not to be denied his presence this evening, firstly in Goethe‟s mocking serenade following Faust‟s seduction of the now-pregnant Gretchen and then, concluding our programme, the astonishing Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Liszt, a concert favourite whose languorous syncopated melody in the middle section has been described as “one of the most voluptuous episodes outside of the Tristan score”. Taking for its subject an episode from Faust, not

by Goethe but by Nikolaus Lenau, the following programme note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score: “There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.”

Pictured above: Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (1907/08)

Ross Alley

6 Programme Notes

Programme Notes

Seduction in the Salon ““If music be the food of love, play on” is Duke Orsino‟s immortal opening line from Shakespeare‟s “Twelfth Night” but love, as we all know, comes in many forms. Here the melancholy Duke is asking for a surfeit of it to sate his appetite and cure his affliction – unrequited love for the Countess Olivia.

Perhaps he needed to hone his seduction techniques and Don Giovanni could well have given him a few tips – we shall see him in action tonight, first with the „Catalogue‟ aria in which his man-servant Leporello lists the extraordinary number of his conquests, and then in the wickedly charming duet with Zerlina: “La ci darem la mano”.

Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah (1609/10) Opera abounds with seducers and seductresses and would be the poorer, musically, without the sensuous music that aids and abets their immoral endeavours. French opera, in particular, gloried in the femme fatale, represented tonight by Bizet‟s amoral gypsy Carmen in her famous “Habanera” and SaintSaëns‟ Philistine temptress Delilah. Their sisters in seduction, Massenet‟s Manon and Thaïs, being soprano roles, remain offstage tonight although the ravishing instrumental interlude, the Méditation” from Thäis, will titillate your ears most deliciously.

The non-operatic song repertoire also brims over with caressing verses of sweet-nothings intended to induce intoxication in innocent ears represented this evening by offerings from Schubert, Verdi and Saint-Saëns.

7

Alluring and erotic dance has always been a formidable force in loosening inhibitions and our programme begins with a Sarabande, a dance originating in Central America in the 16th century which, although it may seem very tame by today‟s standards, came to be regarded as being rather scandalous, even being banned in Spain for its obscenity. Latin America has also given us the slow, sensuously-swaying Cuban Habanera and the often aggressively more erotic Tango, although appearing tonight in the dark-hued warmth of a clarinet calling to us and mesmerizing our senses from out of the Argentine night.

The second movement of Poulenc‟s Clarinet Sonata, the „Romanza‟, is exactly that, a romantic invocation to love, while the gypsy-like fire of Paganini‟s “La campanella” (little bell), the 3rd movement and rondo finale of his Violin Concerto No. 2 (played tonight on viola) assails and attacks our senses unashamedly.

Seduction, with its attack on innocence, is often thought to be diabolic in origin and Mephistopheles is not to be denied his presence this evening, firstly in Goethe‟s mocking serenade following Faust‟s seduction of the now-pregnant Gretchen and then, concluding our programme, the astonishing Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Liszt, a concert favourite whose languorous syncopated melody in the middle section has been described as “one of the most voluptuous episodes outside of the Tristan score”. Taking for its subject an episode from Faust, not

by Goethe but by Nikolaus Lenau, the following programme note, which Liszt took from Lenau, appears in the printed score: “There is a wedding feast in progress in the village inn, with music, dancing, carousing. Mephistopheles and Faust pass by, and Mephistopheles induces Faust to enter and take part in the festivities. Mephistopheles snatches the fiddle from the hands of a lethargic fiddler and draws from it indescribably seductive and intoxicating strains. The amorous Faust whirls about with a full-blooded village beauty in a wild dance; they waltz in mad abandon out of the room, into the open, away into the woods. The sounds of the fiddle grow softer and softer, and the nightingale warbles his love-laden song.”

Pictured above: Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (1907/08)

Ross Alley

8 Tait Awards

Tait Supporters

The Tait Memorial Trust is pleased to be assisting these talented young Australian performing artists in 2015/16: Adopt a Performer Tait Scholar Alexandra Isted, violin Higgins Scholar Wayne Kwonn, cello Andrew Loewenthal Award Peter Wilson, piano/comp Whalley/Goldie-Morrison Award Lisa Bucknell, viola

RCM RNCM RCM RCM

The Leanne Benjamin Awards Peggy Haim Bequest Chloe Hollow, ballet John Frost Award Rebecca Blenkinsop, ballet

ENBS RBS

Partner Award funding Royal Over-Seas League Royal Over-Seas League Southbank Sinfonia McGregor/Kwok Award Aust. Int. Opera Awards Frost/Frank & Viola Tait Award Thornton Foundation Thornton Foundation Hunter family Award Hunter family Award Nicholas Heesom Award Walsh/Thompson Award

Som Howie, clarinet Chad Vindin, piano tba

RCM

Matthew Reardon, tenor WIAV Tabatha McFadyen, soprano Bel Canto Awards, JS & RB Found.ation Jade Moffatt, soprano GSMD Emily Edmonds, mez sop ROH James Guan, piano RAM John Granger Fisher, piano Luke Styles, composer Ashlyn Skye Tymms, mez sop RCM

The Trust has helped over 250 young Australian performers since 1992. We hope to help many more in the years to come.

Lauren Fagan • Grant Doyle • Siobhan Stagg • Julian Gavin • Brad Cooper Helena Dix • Sky Ingram • Kevin Penkin • Daniel de Borah • Hoang Phan Lachlan Monaghan • Thomas Rann • Tristan Dyer • Amy Dickson Valda Wilson • Liane Keegan • Alexandra Hutton • Stefan Cassemenos Derek Welton • Kelly Lovelady • Morgan Pearse • Duncan Rock Helen Sherman • Adrian Dwyer • Elena Xanthoudakis Jayson Gillham Lauren Easton • Coady Green • Greta Bradman • Gavin Zev • Yelian He Catherine Carby • Samuel Sakker • Nicholas Lester • Caitlin Hulcup Kate Howden • Adam Szabo • Lauren Zolezzi • Gerard Schneider • Liwei Qin Marshall McGuire • Claire Howard • John Heuzenroeder • Chelsea Andrejic

Tait Grainger Patron £10,000+ Julian Baring Family * Tait Sutherland Benefactor £5,000+ Sir David & Lady Higgins* Mr John Frost AM* Tait Bonynge Partner £3,000+ The Estate of Peggy Haim Tait Helpmann Circle £1,000+ Mrs Jan Gowrie-Smith Chevalier Richard Gunter Mr & Mrs David Hunter Mr Albert Kwok Mr Andrew Loewenthal* Mrs Stephanie McGregor The Thornton Foundation Mrs Margaret Rodgers Mrs Jacqueline Thompson & Mr Damian Walsh Mr Michael Whalley* Mrs Eugenie White* Miss Karen Goldie-Morrison* VEC Acorn Trust TMT Frank & Viola Friends £500+ Mr Julian Agnew Mr & Mrs Christopher Braithwaite Mr Hugh Bayne Tait Amis Supporter £250+ Mr John Coke The Hon Sarah Joiner Mrs Anne Longdon Mr Kerry Rubie The Hon. Sir Richard Storey Bt CBE TMT Friends £75+ Miss Marylyn Abbott Mr Eric Adler Mrs J Allison Ms Ariadne Jane Baring The Hon Mark Baring The Hon Susan Baring Mrs Nina Bialoguski Mr Lindsay Birrell Ms Sue Bradbury Mrs Diana Burley Mrs Lorraine Buckland Mrs Jane Butter Mr Marcus Clapham Mrs Sandra Clapham Mr John Crisp Ms Fay Curtin Mr Roger Davenport Mr Edward Field Miss Rosemary Frischer

5 Dr John Keet Mr Patrick Kennedy Mr Martin Kramer Mrs Wendy Kramer Lady Rosa Lipworth CBE Mr Henry Lumley Miss Joanna McCallum Ms Sue McGregor Ms Lisa Orlov Ms Mary Rayner Mr John Rendall Ms Jacqueline Rowlands Ms Katherine Scholfield Mr Ian Tegner Mrs Annette Thorp Rev John Wates OBE We are very grateful for the support that we receive from the following organisations: Principal Partner: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Tait Supporters: Australian Business The Britain-Australia Society Royal Over-Seas League The Thornton Foundation Mirabeau Wines With thanks: The Royal College of Music The Tait Committee Leighton House Museum Mr Sam Butler, Leighton House Mr & Mrs Steven Cronk Artistic Planning Committee: Miss Jessica Cottis Mr Jayson Gillham Miss Kate Sheppeard Mr Chad Vindin We very gratefully thank Chevalier Richard Gunter for personally supporting tonight‟s concert.

We would like to thank Ross Alley for Artistically Directing tonight‟s concert.

Principal Partner

4 Biographies Lisa Bucknell Violist, Lisa Bucknell has performed around the United Kingdom with the Scottish Ensemble, the Southbank Sinfonia, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Florilegium, and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and recently debuted at the Wigmore Hall. She has enjoyed a trial with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was selected for this years String Experience Scheme with the London Symphony Orchestra, and performed in the Alan Bennett play Untold Stories at the National Theatre and on the West End. Lisa began her studies on viola at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy after being awarded a scholarship, and has completed a Master of Performance with Distinction at the Royal College of Music under the tutelege of Simon Rowland-Jones. She has studied with Vicci Wardman, Annette Isserlis, and Caroline Henbest, and has had master classes with Thomas Riebl, Maxim Rysanov, Nobuko Imai, and Jennifer Stumm.

Lisa was a prize-winner at the North London Festival of Music, a finalist in the Kenneth Loveland and Brian Boak Outstanding Performer Awards, and a recitalist for the New London Orchestra Young Performers Concert Series sponsored by the Tait Trust. She performed as solo violist for the Sydney Conservatorium’s production of Albert Herring, and for Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Spring Awakening. Lisa has extensive orchestral experience, and has performed in the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Opera House, Cadogan Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney City Recital Hall. Lisa is very grateful for the support of the Richard Carne Trust, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, the Tait Memorial Trust, the Clemence Charitable Trust. Lisa is currently playing a 1930 Natale Carletti viola graciously on loan from the Royal College of Music.

John Granger Fisher Born in Brisbane, Australia, John Granger Fisher began piano studies with his mother at the age of four. At the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Brisbane, John studied with Natasha Vlassenko and Oleg Stepanov; and at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, USA, he worked with Oxana Yablonskaya and Boris Berman. In July 2014 John was awarded the Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied with Vanessa Latarche. John received first prize in the Yamaha Australian National Piano Competition.

He has won the John Allison City of Sydney Piano Scholarship, the Queensland Piano Competition and the Hephzibah Menuhin Award. He received the Griffith University Postgraduate Award, the Florence Davey Piano Scholarship (University of Queensland) and many other university awards. John’s other successes include the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and the Australian National Piano Award. John received second prize in the Louisiana International Piano competition. In February 2014, he won the Chappell Medal for piano at the Royal College of Music. John has appeared as soloist with a number of Australian orchestras and has given many performances with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at important venues, including Carnegie Hall, New York and Wigmore Hall, London. Recent recitals have taken place at St James’s Piccadilly, London; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; and the Leeds College of Music.

Biographies

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Som Howie Som Howie started the clarinet at the age of 11 studying under Mark Walton up until he began his studies at the Conservatorium of Music Sydney in 2008, attaining a Bachelor of Music Performance degree in 2012 completing his studies with Frank Celata. Som also studied with Lawrence Dobell after completing his degree at the Conservatorium. He received his AMus in clarinet at the age of 17, and in the same year was selected to perform at the Opera House in Encore, a concert for the most outstanding HSC music students.

In 2013, Som completed a 12-month fellowship with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and won the Musica Viva Chamber Music Competition as well as the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference Competition. Som participated in the Orchestral Academy program with the Southbank Sinfonia in London and will continue his studies with Andrew Marriner, Principle Clarinettist, London Symphony Orchestra and others James Ioelu New Zealand Bass-Baritone James completed an undergraduate degree in Music and Psychology at the University of Auckland before moving to New York in 2010 to complete a Master's in Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. During his studies he performed principal roles in a number of MSM productions; Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust, Trinity Moses in Kurt Weil’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Louis XVI in John Corigliano’s The Ghost of Versailles, and the Knave in Manly Romero’s Dreaming of Wonderland at the Brooklyn Arts Space.

Most recently, James has benefited from the generous support of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa foundation, including some coveted time with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa herself. Highlights include the role of Bruno in Michael Williams’ original work The Juniper Passion, which premiered in Rome, understudying the bass soloist in Haydn's The Creation with the NZSO, and most recently performing the role of Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor produced by Auckland Opera Studio and accompanied by the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. He will be performing the role of Don Pasquale this year with the Merola opera program in San Francisco as well as joining the National Opera Studio in London in September of this year.

James has received a steady stream of awards ranging from New Zealand Young Performer of the Year and Iosefa Enari Emerging Pacific Artist Award to more recently placing in three of the top Aria competitions in the Southern Hemisphere within the last year, winning the NZAria, as well as taking home the runner-up prize in both the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Bel Canto competition and the Sydney Eisteddfod Operatic Aria.

Alexandra Isted Alexandra is currently a student of Itzhak Rashkovsky and Michal Cwizewizc at the Royal College of Music where she is completing a Masters of Music.

She previously studied with Tickets available online www.taitmemorialtrust.org/events Winthrop Professor Paul Wright at the University of Western Australia where she graduated

10 Biographies from a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Music Performance. In the same year she was awarded the UWA Graduates Convocation Award for the highest marks in the music faculty. Previously Alexandra was a student of the Advanced Performance Program at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne where she studied with Bill Hennessy. Alexandra has been the winner of numerous competitions, including the UWA Vose Prize Concerto Competition, the Woodside Concerto Competition and the Fremantle Open Concerto Competition. She has also been a semi-finalist in the Kendall National Violin Competition, won third place in the Australian String Academy Concerto Competition and been a recitalist in the National Youth Concerto Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the UWA Orchestra, West Australian Youth Orchestra, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Allegri Chamber Orchestra and the Fremantle Symphony Orchestra.

Alexandra is one of the 5 violinists in London selected for this years String Experience Scheme with the London Symphony Orchestra. She also is part of the BBC Symphony Pathway Scheme. In 2014 she was on a year-long contract with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has also played in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and most recently the Australian Youth Orchestra combined with the Australian World Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Alexandra wishes to thank the Friends of UWA Music and the Tait Memorial Trust who support her in her studies at the Royal College of Music. Alexandra is the 2016 Tait Scholar at the Royal College of Music.

Ashlyn Skye Tymms Mezzo-soprano, Ashlyn Skye Tymms graduated with a Bachelor of Music from The University of Melbourne 2009. She was a choral scholar and featured soloist with The University of Melbourne Trinity College Choir, recording with ABC Classics, Southern Star & Mystical Songs 2006-2007. Ashlyn other successes include: Mietta Song Recital Award semi-finalist 2010, Gertrude Johnson Scholarship with The Opera Studio Melbourne 2011, Winner of The National Liederfest including, The Robert Salzer Foundation Scholarship, Henkell Brothers Award, Goethe-Institut Australien Award and the Alan McArthur Memorial 2012; The Sydney Eisteddfod Joan Sutherland Memorial Scholarship finalist 2013.

In 2014 Ashlyn was a Herald Sun semi-finalist, Sydney Eisteddfod finalist in both the Opera and Arts Vocal Scholarship and the McDonald’s Aria Award and was a finalist with Opera Foundation Australia, Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship. Performed roles include Euridice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Busby Le Cornu in the 2010 Australian premier of The Cockatoos with Victorian Opera, Eurydice in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld and Berenice in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro. In addition, Ashlyn was the mezzo-soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Maroondah Symphony Orchestra 2013 and the Alto soloist in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with The Sydney University Graduate Choir. Ashlyn has been awarded a scholarship to undertake the Masters of Performance program at the Royal College of Music, London in 2015/16.

Biographies

3 Ross Alley, a New Zealander, is a music lecturer for Birkbeck College, University of London. He has been a frequent lecturer at the Royal Opera House giving over 70 talks on opera and ballet music.

Over the years he has given numerous preperformance talks and lectures at the E.N.O, Wigmore Hall, the Wagner Society, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Gustav Mahler Society & the London Jewish Cultural Centre .

Ross founded The Lure of Opera/Inside Opera 1991 – Present (25 years) in the function rooms of the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London “The Lure of Opera” is a privately-run lecture series on opera currently in its 55th series. The focus for each ten-week course is usually the operatic works of one composer and takes place on a Monday evening at the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair In addition, Ross has given numerous guest lectures for the Cecchetti Societies of Great Britain, USA, Canada & Italy; Royal Academy of Dancing, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, the Council for Dance Education and Training, Birmingham Royal Ballet Education, London Junior Ballet, Hammond School, Elmhurst School of Dance. Numerous lectures on music for English National Opera, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, London Symphony Orchestra, the UK Wagner Society, the Gustav Mahler Society, Kenwood, NADFAS, Artstur and the Newbury Spring Festival.

Internationally, Ross has lectured several times at the “The Great Romantics” Festival in Hamilton, Ontario organized by the foremost Liszt scholar, Dr. Alan Walker and is co-hosted by McMaster University and the American Liszt Society.

Partner Organisations Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition Australian International Opera Awards, WIAV Cardiff Tait Performing Arts Association, Melbourne Southbank Sinfonia, Sir Charles Mackerras Chair Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation, Bel Canto Award Royal College of Music, Tait Scholar Royal Northern College of Music, Higgin’s Scholar The Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, The Leanne Benjamin Awards

We are very grateful to Mirabeau Wines for providing the wine for tonight’s event.

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Programme

Biographies

Lisa Bucknell Bach: Prelude and Sarabande from the 4th Cello Suite Paganini: La Campanella Matthew Reardon Schubert: Ständchen Verdi: La seduzione Saint-Saëns: Guitares et mandolines Som Howie Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata (Movement 2—Romanza) Piazolla: Oblivion Ashlyn Skye Tymms Bizet: Habanera Carmen Saint-Saëns: Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix Samson et Dalila INTERVAL James Ioelu Mozart: Catalogue aria Don Giovanni Ashlyn & James Mozart: La ci darem la mano Don Giovanni Alex Isted Massenet: Meditation Thaïs Ravel: Pièce en forme de Habanera Matthew & James Bizet: Au fond du temple saint The Pearl Fishers James Ioelu Gounod: Vous qui faites l’endormie Faust John Granger Fisher Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1

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Matthew Reardon Matthew Reardon is a Tenor from Sydney. He was a Dame Nellie Melba Opera scholar and a graduate from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Matthew made his professional operatic debut as Young Man 1 in Pecan Summer, the first Indigenous opera composed by soprano Deborah Cheetham (AO). He has been a chorus member with West Australian Opera and Opera Australia. He recently completed an Australian tour performing the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Opera, Cosi fan tutte with Co- Opera. Matthew has also been awarded a number of prizes and scholarships.

Matthew was a semi finalist in the McDonalds Aria Competition, was awarded the audience prize at the Australian – German Wiesbaden Award, and was a finalist in the Richard Bonynge and Dame Joan Sutherland Bel Canto award.

Matthew was awarded the Australian International Opera Award Scholarship (AIOA) which he began in September 2015, to study with the internationally famous Welsh tenor, Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice, in Cardiff.

Chad Vindin Winner of the accompanist's prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Competition in 2013, the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Accompanist Prize at the Royal Academy of Music and 2014, and the Royal Overseas League/Tait Memorial Trust Award last year, Chad Vindin has a busy career performing throughout the UK as an accompanist and chamber musician. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Malcolm Martineau, Chad was awarded the Lord & Lady Lurgan Junior Fellowship in Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music, a role he is currently enjoying for a second year. Chad is generously supported by the Thornton Foundation, and is grateful to have received further support by the Leverhulme Trust, the Reizenstein scholarship, and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust. In his spare time he runs the popular classical music satire site Throwcase.com.

Tait Memorial Trust

Chairman Isla Baring OAM Founding Patrons Dame Joan Sutherland AC OM DBE, Viola, Lady Tait AM, John McCallum AO CBE, Googie Withers AO CBE Patrons Leanne Benjamin AM OBE, John Frost AM, Julian Gavin, Patricia Countess of Harewood, Barry Humphries AO CBE, Piers Lane AO, June Mendoza AO OBE, Ermes de Zan Trustees Justin Baring, Isla Baring OAM, Shirley Barr, Anne Longdon, Susie Thornton Committee Fay Curtin, Jan Gowrie-Smith, Caroline Hamilton, Ros Higgins, Wendy Kramer, Dr Margaret Mayston AM, Gayle McDermott, Sue McGregor, Patricia Nimmo, John Rendall, Margaret Rodgers, Ann Seddon, Jacqueline Thompson Treasurer Will Middleton Honorary Committee Member Nicola Downer AM Administrator James Hancock

Coming Tait Events Tait Friends at Stoke Lodge

A musical surprise Stoke Lodge, 45 Hyde Park Gate London, SW7 5DU Wednesday 18th May 2016 at 6.30pm In the presence of the Australian High Commissioner HE The Hon Alexander Downer AC and Mrs Nicola Downer AM

Australian Ballet rehearsal London Coliseum

Proudly supporting young Australian performing artists in the UK Principal Partner

Tait Memorial Trust 4/80 Elm Park Gardens London SW10 9PD @TaitTrust FB /taitmemorialtrust Phone +44 207 351 0561 info@taitmemorialtrust.org www.taitmemorialtrust.org Reg. Charity 1042797

Swan Lake

Presented by Leanne Benjamin AM OBE Tuesday 12th July at 1.30pm

The Tait Trust Seduction in the Salon Presented & Artistically Directed by Ross Alley

Lisa Bucknell, John Granger Fisher Som Howie, James Ioelu, Alexandra Isted, Ashlyn Skye Tymms, Matthew Reardon, Chad Vindin

Tait Winter Prom 2016

Memories of Summer St John’s Smith Square Wednesday 30th November 2016 at 7.30pm Tait Chamber Orchestra Conducted by Jessica Cottis Our annual showcase for our Award recipients Music by Mozart, Wagner, Copland, Styles, Barber, Williamson

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For more information about any Tait Event please go to our website: www.taitmemorialtrust.org/events The Tait Memorial Trust was formed in 1992 by Isla Baring OAM in memory of Sir Frank and Viola, Lady Tait and the Tait brothers who played such an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. The Trust offers awards/grants for postgraduate study and regularly gives performance opportunities to young Australian musicians and performing artists and general help in the furtherance of their careers while resident in the UK. To ensure its continuance the Trust arranges regular fund raising events & concerts, invariably featuring the talented young winners of the various awards, and relies a great deal on financial support from the business sector, private donors and other loyal supporters.

www.taitmemorialtrust.org

Tonight’s concert is generously sponsored by Chevalier Richard Gunter

Thursday 26 April 2016 7 for 7.30pm Leighton House Museum 12 Holland Park Rd, London W14 8LZ Principal Partner